Lot 50: Kamal Boulatta (Palestinian, b. 1942)

Kamal Boulatta (Palestinian, b. 1942)
Nine Major Calligraphic Silkscreens
each work signed 'Boulatta' and again in Arabic, and titled, dated and numbered
silkscreen on paper, nine in total
each 30 1/8 x 22in. (76.5 x 56cm.)

A-Allah Mahabba numbered A/P
B-Huwa numbered 16/30
C-Allah I numbered A/P
D-Al Arsh Dhill Allah wa-l Insan al-Arsh unnumbered
E-Ya Subhan al - Kahliq numbered 22/30
F-Kun Fayakun numbered 10/30
G-Ana-al-Haqq numbered 22/30
H-Fi-l Bid' Kan-al-Kalima numbered A/P
I-Nur 'ala Nur numbered 15/30
Executed in Washington D. C. in 1982-1983, each from an edition of thirty

Kamal Boulatta works primarily in Silkscreenm, and is one of the Arab worlds foremost artists working with calligraphy. His work is mainly an exploration of the geometrical possibilities of the kufic script, and combining this with a carefully balanced colour scheme to produce contemporary compositions. Raised in a Christian Arab family in Jerusalem, he felt equally comfortable creating calligraphic compositions using text from the Holy Quran or from the Gospels, focussing on the concept of light, where it appears in both scriptures.
Works from these series have been widely exhibited, including:
Thomas Evans Gallery, Smithsonian Institution,Washington, DC, 1983
National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, 1984
Bahrain Art Society, Manama, Bahrain, 1985
Qatar Society of Fine Arts, Qatar, 1985;
University Art Gallery, University of Texas, Houston, TX., 1986
Maison de la Culture, Montreal, 1987
Barbican Arts Centre, London, Contemporary Art from the Islamic World, 1989
LArt du livre, Bibliothque Nationale, Paris, 2001
British Museum, London Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East,2006
DIFC, Dubai, Word into Art, 2008
Le Louvre des Antiquaires, Paris, Calligraphies dOrient, 2008